Methods and systems for presenting topic-specific biographical information of a user

ABSTRACT

A question-and-answer application that displays topic-specific biographical information about users when presenting certain content elements is described. The topic-specific biographical information for a user may be displayed in various contexts, such as with an answer to a question on a question page for the question, or with information identifying a user who is following a question or a topic. With some embodiments, a user&#39;s topic-specific biographical information may be provided by the user, provided or suggested by another user, or obtained from an external data source.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.12/983,061, filed Dec. 31, 2010, the contents of which is expresslyincorporated by reference herein in its entirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure generally relates to data processing techniques.More specifically, the present disclosure relates to methods and systemsfor enhancing the quality of user-generated content for presentation viaa question-and-answer service by presenting topic-specific biographicalinformation about a user when presenting certain content elementsrelated to the user.

BACKGROUND

Many on-line or web-based applications and services rely partially, andin some cases almost entirely, on user-generated content—that is,content generated by the end-users of the particular application orservice. The success of such applications and services is heavilydependent upon the ability to attract and retain users who are willingto participate by generating content that is to be shared with otherusers. One particular type of application or service for which thisholds true is an on-line question-and-answer service. In general, aquestion-and-answer service is a service that allows its end-users topost questions, post answers to questions, or simply browse thequestions and answers that others have posted.

One of the ways that a user can assess the quality (e.g., accuracy,truthfulness, trustworthiness, etc.) of information, such as an answerthat has been provided to a particular question, is to assess the sourceof the information. However, many question-and-answer services providelittle more than the name of a person who has provided an answer to aquestion. This limits a user's ability to gain any insight into thequality of the information provided with an answer, particularly whenthe user who provided the answer is unknown to the user viewing theanswer. A question-and-service may provide a link to a user's profilepage, allowing a user browsing a particular answer to retrievebiographical information about a user who provided the answer. However,this generally requires that a user browsing an answer leave the currentweb page displaying the answer and load a new web page with thebiographical information of the user who provided the answer. Inaddition, such an approach can be burdensome to the browsing userbecause it requires the user to wade through the entire profile of theuser who provided the answer, and much of the profile may be irrelevantfor purposes of assessing the quality of the answer.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Some embodiments of the invention are illustrated by way of example, andnot limitation, in the figures of the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a simple relationship diagram illustrating how some of thevarious elements and participants of a question-and-answer applicationare related to one another in a particular embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 2 is a system-level block diagram illustrating some of the systemcomponents and functional modules used in implementing aquestion-and-answer application that includes the ability to obtain anddisplay topic-specific biographical information for a user, consistentwith an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating some example data structures—in theform of database tables—for use in implementing topic-specificbiographical statements for use with a question-and-answer service,according to some embodiments of the invention;

FIG. 4 is a flow diagram illustrating an example of a method consistentwith some embodiments of the invention for presenting a question postedto a question-and-answer service, along with an answer provided by auser, and a topic-specific biographical statement for the user whoprovided the answer;

FIG. 5 is a flow diagram illustrating the method operations of a methodfor displaying topic-specific biographical information of a user whendisplaying information about a question that a user is following,according to some embodiments of the invention;

FIG. 6 is a flow diagram illustrating the method operations involved ina method of displaying topic-specific biographical information of a userwhen displaying information about a topic that the user is following,according to some embodiments of the invention;

FIG. 7 is a flow diagram illustrating a method for enabling a user toprovide a topic-specific biographical statement when providing an answerto a question that has been assigned to one or more topics, according toan embodiment of the invention;

FIGS. 8 through 11 are user interface diagrams illustrating examples ofuser interfaces for use with a question-and-answer applicationconsistent with some embodiments of the invention; and

FIG. 12 is a block diagram of a machine in the form of a computer withinwhich a set of instructions, for causing the machine to perform any oneor more of the methodologies discussed herein, may be stored andexecuted.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Methods and systems for obtaining and displaying topic-specificbiographical information about a user of a question-and-answer serviceare described. In the following description, for purposes ofexplanation, numerous specific details are set forth in order to providea thorough understanding of the various aspects of different embodimentsof the present invention. It will be evident, however, to one skilled inthe art, that the present invention may be practiced without thesespecific details.

A question-and-answer application or service provides an on-line forumwhere users can post questions, post answers to questions, or simplysearch for and review questions and answers that others have posted. Assuch, a question-and-answer application is an information repository ofuser-generated content that is organized and presented in a relativelysimple and intuitive manner. For purposes of the present disclosure, anindividual web page showing all questions related to a particular topicmay be referred to as a topic page, whereas a web page showing anindividual question and any associated answers to the question, willgenerally be referred to herein as a question page. Finally, a page thatshows profile information about a particular user is referred to hereinas a user profile page, or simply, a profile.

With some question-and-answer services, content is structured to acertain extent, by explicitly assigning questions and/or answers tovarious topics. For example, to aid in the overall organization andpresentation of information, a question might be assigned to one or moretopics representing, for example, a subject matter to which the questionrelates. Take for example the question, “What is the population of SanFrancisco?” This question may be assigned to the topic, “San Francisco.”With some embodiments, as users post questions for others to answer,users can designate each question as being related to one or moreexisting topics, or users can create and designate new topics. In someembodiments, any user may be free to assign a content item, such as aquestion or a biographical statement of a user, to a particular topic.Alternatively, in some embodiments, only designated users oradministrators may have the required permissions or assigned rolesnecessary for assigning questions to particular topics. For purposes ofthe present disclosure, a content item (e.g., a question or abiographical statement) is said to have been assigned to a topic whenthe topic has been explicitly designated by a user or administrator.

The extent to which the content of a question-and-service is structuredmay vary considerably from one implementation to the next. For instance,with some question-and-answer services, questions and answers may not beexplicitly assigned to topics. However, analysis of the text of aquestion or answer, as well as analysis of certain meta-data associatedwith a question or answer, may allow the question-and-answer service toinfer one or more topics with which a question or answer is associated.For example, the question, “What is a good introductory book forlearning Java programming?” might be associated with the topic, “Java(computer programming)” as a result of the question including the word,“Java.” Similarly, analysis of the text and meta-data associated withone or more answers to a question may allow the question-and-answerservice to infer one or more topics with which the question isassociated. With some embodiments of the invention, thequestion-and-answer service may perform textual analysis of the text ofcertain content items (e.g., questions and biographical statement inparticular) to determine the topics with which the content items areassociated. For purposes of the present disclosure, a content item issaid to be associated with a topic, when the topic is inferred fromanalyzing the text of the content item and any meta-data associated withthe content item.

Consistent with embodiments of the invention, a question-and-answerservice presents topic-specific biographical information about a userwhen presenting web pages including certain content elements, forexample, such as an answer to a question that has been provided by theuser. For example, a question page generally displays the text of aquestion that has been posted by a user along with a list ofuser-provided answers to the question. To enable users who are viewingthe answers to assess the source and quality of the answers, the name ofeach person who provided an answer may be displayed next to his or heranswer. In addition to displaying the user's name next to his or heranswer, the question-and-answer service selects a particular portion ofthe user's biographical information to display in connection with (e.g.,next to, or, near) the user's answer. The biographical information ofthe user is generally selected for being relevant with respect to atopic to which the question and answer relate.

For example, if a question on a question page has been explicitlyassigned to the topic “Basketball”, when a user provides an answer tothe question, some portion of the user's biographical informationrelevant to that user's experience with the topic “Basketball” isselected and displayed next to the user's answer. Similarly, if aquestion on a question page has been explicitly assigned to the topic“Venture Capital”, when the user provides an answer to the question,some portion of the user's biographical information relevant to theuser's experience with the topic “Venture Capital” will be displayed inconnection with his or her answer. With some embodiments, thequestion-and-answer service may infer one or more topics with which aquestion is associated, based on an analysis of the text of a question,an analysis of the text of one or more answers to the question, and/orthe analysis of some meta-data associated with a question and/oranswers. Displaying topic-specific biographical information of a userwhen presenting various content elements (e.g., such as a questionprovided by a user) not only allows users who are browsing questions andanswers to assess the trustworthiness of an answer based on relevantinformation concerning the provider of the answer, but it alsoeliminates the need for a user who answers a lot of questions to providebiographical information about him or herself with each and everyquestion that the user answers.

Consistent with some embodiments of the invention, the topic-specificbiographical information for a user may be displayed in a variety ofcontexts. For example, a topic-specific biographical statement may bedisplayed with an answer provided by a user, when that answer isdisplayed in a question page. In such a scenario, the particulartopic-specific biographical statement will be selected for its relevanceor relationship to the topic of the question on the question page. So,for example, if the question is assigned to the topic, “Basketball”, thebiographical statement related to a user's experience with the topic“Basketball” will be displayed next to his or her answer. Similarly, atopic-specific biographical statement may be displayed along with acomment that a user has provided. Here again, the biographical statementwill be selected for its relevance or relationship with respect to thetopic of the question to which the comment relates.

Topic-specific biographical information may also be displayed in otherscenarios as well. For instance, in certain contexts, a web page mayinclude information about the particular users who are following aquestion, or a topic. For instance, a question page may includeinformation about the particular users who are following the questionthat is shown on that question page. In addition to showing theindividual users who are following the question, topic-specificbiographical information about each user following the question may bedisplayed as well. This allows a user browsing a question page toidentify other users who may have expertise concerning certain topics.Accordingly, if a user browsing a question page identifies another userwho, based on his or her biographical information, seems interesting tothe browsing user, the browsing user can elect to follow that user.Similarly, a topic page may present information about the various userswho are following a topic. In addition to showing who (i.e., whichusers) are following the topic, the topic page may displaytopic-specific biographical information about the users who arefollowing the topic. A user who is browsing a topic page because of aninterest in the topic may elect to follow one or more of the other userswho are also following the topic of the topic page. As such, thetopic-specific biographical information that is displayed about a usernot only allows a browsing user to assess the quality of any informationthat is provided by a user, but also serves a discovery purpose byenabling browsing users to discover other potential sources of relevantinformation about a particular topic. Other aspects and advantages ofthe inventive subject matter described herein will be readily apparentto skilled artisans from the description of the figures that follows.

FIG. 1 is a simple relationship diagram illustrating how some of thevarious elements and participants of a question-and-answer applicationare related to one another in a particular embodiment of the invention.For instance, as illustrated in FIG. 1 , a user 10 of thequestion-and-answer application may follow another user 12, a topic 14,or a question 16. As used herein, the concept of “following” is somewhatanalogous to the concept of subscribing in a subscription-based model.When a user follows another user, there is no implied personalrelationship between the two users. For instance, a first user mayfollow a second user simply because the first user believes the seconduser is particularly insightful with respect to a particular topic ofinterest. By “following” another user, a user can be automaticallyinformed of activities of the other user. If, for example, user A isfollowing user B, when user B posts a question or an answer to aquestion, user A will be notified of user B's posting activity.Similarly, if a user elects to follow a particular topic, as newquestions are assigned to the particular topic, the user can beautomatically notified of these new questions. In yet another example,if a user follows a particular question, as new answers are posted tothe particular question, the user will be notified of the new answers.

The concept of “following” may be thought of as a unilateralrelationship, because it can be achieved at the desire of only one user.This is in contrast to the concept of two users being “connected” (e.g.,in a social networking context), which typically implies a personalrelationship between the users. Two users may be “connected” when eachuser is following the other—a bilaterally defined relationship. In someembodiments of the invention, the enabled features and interactions thatthe users are allowed to have with one another may be controlled to someextent by the type of relationship that exists between users, as thatrelationship is defined by the question-and-answer service, or someexternally-hosted social network service. For instance, with someembodiments, a user may be able to provide or suggest a topic-specificbiographical statement for another user when the two users are“connected”—that is, each user is following the other. Accordingly, atleast with some embodiments, this feature is enabled with respect to twousers only when a system-defined relationship exists between the twousers.

As illustrated in FIG. 1 , each user may have biographical information13 that is part of the user's profile. A user may elect to make his orher profile information public, such that it can be viewed by otherusers on a user profile page. Alternatively, a user may elect to keephis or her profile information private. As will be described in greaterdetail below, each user's biographical information may be associatedwith certain topics. More specifically, a user's biographicalinformation may consist of individual items of information, and eachitem of information may be assigned to one or more topics. Accordingly,the particular portion of a user's profile or biographical informationthat is displayed in a particular context may be dependent upon thecontext and the particular topic to which the user's biographicalinformation is assigned. For example, when a user answers a question,some portion of the user's biographical information that is assigned toa topic to which the question has previously been assigned will bedisplayed next to the user's answer. Similarly, if a user provides acomment to another user's answer or comment, some portion of the user'sbiographical information assigned to the topic of the question that isbeing answered will be displayed next to the user's comment. With someembodiments, a user's biographical information may not be explicitlyassigned to various topics, but the question-and-answer service maydetermine one or more topics with which the biographical information isassociated, based on an analysis of the text of a biographicalstatement, and any associated meta-data.

In some embodiments of the invention, notifications may be communicatedto a user by simply including the relevant content in a landing page ordata feed displayed to the user. For example, when a user first provideshis or her authentication information (e.g., username/password), theuser may be presented with a personalized home page or landing page withcontent that is customized for the user. This content may be selected toinclude information regarding the users, topics and questions that theparticular user is following. Additionally, in some embodiments,notifications may be communicated in near real-time to a user via anynumber of messaging mechanisms, to include a real-time dynamic data feed(e.g., web page) updates, email, SMS or text messages, instant messages,and others. In some embodiments, a user may elect to be notified ofcertain activities or events on a per-question, per-topic or per-userbasis. For instance, a user may elect to receive a notification when anew answer is posted to a particular question that the user isfollowing. When a first user suggests a topic-specific biographicalstatement for a second user, a notification message may appear to notifythe second user about the topic-specific biographical statement that hasbeen suggested by the first user.

Referring again to FIG. 1 , a topic 14 may have a wiki summary 18 thatprovides a summary or some additional description of what subject matteris encompassed by the particular topic. Similarly, a question 16 mayhave a wiki summary 18 that provides some description or additionalcontext for the question. In some embodiments, the wiki summary 18 fortopics and questions may be user-editable by all users, while in otherembodiments, only certain users will have the authority to edit a wikisummary. For instance, in some embodiments, only the person who posted aparticular question may be authorized to edit the wiki summary for thatparticular question. In some embodiments, users may be assigned rolesthat determine various content or access privileges the users have withrespect to different topics or questions. For instance, certain usersmay be assigned an “editor” role for a particular topic, therebyproviding those users with editing privileges that are different fromthose of a regular user.

In addition to a wiki summary 18, a question 16 is associated with oneor more answers 20. For instance, after a user posts a question, otherusers of the application are able to provide answers to the question. Insome embodiments of the invention, any user is allowed to post an answerto a particular question. As such, a question may be associated with orhave multiple answers. In some embodiments, both questions 16 andanswers 20 may have comments. For instance, a user may provide a textualcomment that is associated with a question 16 or an answer 20. A commentassociated with an answer, for example, could provide some clarificationabout a particular answer, or some aspect of the answer. Other users canthen view the comments when viewing the question and/or answers.

In some embodiments of the invention, an answer 20 has or is associatedwith votes 24. For example, users can vote up or vote down a particularanswer based on whether the user finds the answer helpful in view of theparticular question. For instance, if a user believes that a particularanswer to a question is a good answer, the user can select a button orother graphical user interface element to vote for the answer.Similarly, if a user believes that a particular answer is not helpful inlight of the question, the user can vote down the answer, for example,by simply selecting a button or other graphical user interface elementto indicate that the answer is not helpful. In some embodiments, thenumber of votes for and against an answer are used as inputs to analgorithm that determines how answers are to be displayed when presentedto a user. For example, the votes for and against an answer may simplybe tallied, such that a vote for the answer offsets a vote against theanswer, and the answers with the highest vote tallies are displayed inthe most prominent positions—typically, at the top of a list of relevantanswers.

By providing a forum that includes questions, answers, comments andvotes, the question-and-answer application encourages meaningfuldiscussion about a whole host of subject matters, in part, by enablingusers to interact with the application in a variety of ways. Forinstance, some users may desire an entirely passive experience, and cantherefore simply browse for, and read, questions and answers on topicsof interest. Some users may desire an experience including a moderatelevel of participation, and as such, these users can vote up or downvarious answers on topics of interest, and possibly provide commentary.Others may desire to participate more actively, and will elect to postquestions and answers to questions.

FIG. 2 is a system-level block diagram illustrating some of the systemcomponents and functional modules used in implementing aquestion-and-answer application that includes the ability to obtain anddisplay topic-specific biographical information for a user, consistentwith an embodiment of the invention. As illustrated in FIG. 2 , in someembodiments, a question-and-answer application is implemented as aweb-based application having application logic 30 residing at one ormore processor-based computer servers 32. At least some of the servers32 include a web server 34 component for serving data (e.g., documentsor web pages) to a conventional web browser application 36 residing andexecuting at a client computer 38. In addition, or as an alternative,the web server 34 may utilize one or more web-based protocols to servecontent to non-web browser clients, such as a web-based mobileapplication residing and executing on a mobile device, a set top box, orsome other computing device.

As illustrated in FIG. 2 , a client computer 38 executes a web browserapplication 36 to access the web-based question-and-answer application.In various alternative embodiments, the client computer 38 may be amobile computing device, to include: a laptop, mobile phone or tabletcomputer. As such, in some embodiments, the application may have aninterface that is customized for display in a browser, or mobileapplication, of a mobile device. Furthermore, with some embodiments, theclient-based application may not be browser-based, but instead may becustomized to suit the particular operating system of the device onwhich it is executing. For instance, a customized application mayutilize one or more application programming interfaces that are uniqueto the particular device and operating system on which the customizedapplication resides and executes.

The question-and-answer application logic 30 is shown in FIG. 2 toinclude content posting logic 44, an external data module 45, atopic-specific biography editor module 46, a location-based servicesmodule 47, and messaging and notification logic 48. In general, thecontent posting logic 44 enables users to post questions, answers andcomments, as well as other information and related content items. Asdescribed in greater detail below, the topic-specific biography editormodule 46 facilitates some of the various functionality associated withobtaining topic-specific biographical information about the users of thequestion-and-answer service. For instance, the editor module 46 operatesin conjunction with the content posting logic 44 to enable users to add,delete and edit their biographical information. With some embodiments,the editor module 46 operates on a per-topic basis, such that users canprovide a biographical statement that is assigned to a particular topic,and is to be displayed in certain contexts with content items that areassigned to, or associated with, a corresponding topic. With someembodiments, the editor module 46 operates on a per-question basis, suchthat a user can enter a specific biographical statement to be displayedin connection with a particular question. In other embodiments, thetopic editor 46 may be invoked to allow a user to provide a biographicalstatement to be displayed in other contexts, such as a particularoccurrence of the user's name being presented. Furthermore, in someembodiments, the editor module 46 can be used to allow a user to suggestone or more topic-specific biographical statements for another user.

The messaging and notification logic 48 operates in conjunction with thecontent posting logic 44 and the editor 46 to facilitate the generationand communication of messages and notifications. For instance, if afirst user provides a suggested biographical statement for a seconduser, the second user will receive a notification or message, deliveredby the messaging and notification logic 48, which notifies the seconduser of the suggested biographical statement provided by the first user.

Consistent with some embodiments, the external data module 45 operatesto query one or more external data sources 49 for relevant biographicalinformation about users of the question-and-answer service. Forinstance, the external data module 45 may utilize one or moreapplication programming interfaces (APIs) to connect with an externaldata source having biographical information about users of thequestion-and-answer service. The external data source may be a social orbusiness network service, an email service, or some other web-basedservice. In some embodiments, the external data module 45 queries one ormore external data sources 49 for relevant biographical information, andthen stores any retrieved information in a database 42. Accordingly,this information can be used when displaying topic-specific biographicalinformation about users. In some embodiments, the external data module45 may retrieve data from an external data source in real-time, as it ispreparing a page to be displayed for a user. Depending upon the natureof the external data source, a user's permission (e.g., password) may ormay not be required to access the external data source 49. The retrieveddata may be automatically associated with one or more topics based onthe structure and source of the data. Alternatively, thequestion-and-answer service may prompt a user to assign some retrievedbiographical data to one or more topics.

With some embodiments, the question-and-answer service includes alocation based services module 47. The location based services module 47analyzes location information of users, and in some instances, may serveas a source of topic-specific biographical information about a user. Forinstance, many questions that are posted to the question-and-answerservice have a geographical component. For example, the question “Whatare the five best restaurants in San Francisco?” is a question thatrelates to the city of San Francisco. Accordingly, if a user resides inthe city of San Francisco, the user is more likely able to provide aquality answer to the question than is a user who lives in Florida, forexample. Therefore, the location based services module may infer auser's location using location information, such as the InternetProtocol (IP) address of a user's computing device, and then displaythis location information with an item of content, such as a user'sanswer. With some embodiments, the location based services module 47 mayleverage an external data source for various types of locationinformation. Of course, the application logic 30 may include a number ofother logical components to perform a variety of other tasks andfunctions beyond the immediate scope of the present inventive subjectmatter. As such, to avoid obscuring the inventive subject matter inunnecessary detail, these various functional components have not beenincluded in FIG. 2 .

In some embodiments, some of the various functional components of thequestion-and-answer application, including some of the various softwaremodules, may be distributed across several server computers, providingapplication reliability and scalability. For instance, as illustrated inFIG. 2 , the database management server 40 is shown to reside on aseparate server computer. However, in other embodiments the databasemanagement server 40 might reside and execute at the same server as theapplication logic 30 and web server 34. In any case, the databasemanagement server 40 facilitates the writing and reading of data storedin tables of a database 42. In some alternative embodiments, other datastructures may be utilized in addition to, or in place of, databasetables.

Consistent with some embodiments, the question-and-answer service is astand-alone service accessible via its own unique address (e.g., URL orURI). With some embodiments, the stand-alone service may leverage itsown social layer, or a social layer provided by an externally-hostedsocial network service. Accordingly, various relationships betweenusers, as determined or defined by the question-and-answer service or anexternally-hosted social network service, may be utilized to customizethe functionality and features of the question-and-answer service. Forexample, certain interactions between users may be controlled based onthe relationships that exist between the users, as those relationshipsare defined by an externally-hosted social network service.Alternatively, with some embodiments, the question-and-answer servicemay be one of several applications or services that are associated with,and provided by, a social network service. For instance, thequestion-and-answer service may be accessible via the same address ordomain by which users access a social network service, such that thequestion-and-answer service is hosted by the same entity providing thesocial network service.

FIG. 3 illustrates some example data structures—in the form of databasetables—for use in implementing topic-specific biographical statementsfor use with a question-and-answer service, according to someembodiments of the invention. The database tables shown in FIG. 3 areprovided as an example of one particular embodiment of the invention,and are not meant to limit the invention to any particularimplementation. Accordingly, the exact arrangement of database tablesshown in FIG. 3 , including the naming conventions for tables andcolumns, are provided as examples and are meant to convey anunderstanding of the inventive subject matter, and one particularcontext in which the inventive subject matter might be implemented,without limiting the invention. Moreover, it will be readily appreciatedby skilled artisans that various other tables (not shown in FIG. 3 )might be utilized to implement various aspects of a question-and-answerapplication that are consistent with embodiments of the inventivesubject matter described herein.

As illustrated in FIG. 3 , there are three tables, including tables withthe names, “TOPIC_TABLE” 50, “USER_BIO_TABLE” 52, and “USER_TABLE” 54.As shown in FIG. 3 , the USER_BIO_TABLE 52 includes a field with thename, USER_ID, for storing some type of identifier for a user, and aseparate field, TOPIC_ID for storing an identifier for a topic. Inaddition, the USER_BIO_TABLE includes a field, BIO_STATEMENT, forstoring individual topic-specific biographical information statements ofa user. Accordingly, the USER_BIO_TABLE links the topics, as specifiedand stored in the TOPIC_TABLE, with users, as specified and stored inthe USER_TABLE.

FIG. 4 illustrates an example of a method consistent with someembodiments of the invention for presenting a question posted to aquestion-and-answer service, along with an answer provided by a user,and a topic-specific biographical statement for the user who providedthe answer. As illustrated in FIG. 4 , the method begins at methodoperation 60 when the question-and-answer service receives a request fora question page for a question that has been posted to thequestion-and-answer service. In some embodiments, at the time thequestion page is requested, the question will have been previouslyassigned to at least one topic. Alternatively, with some embodiments,the question, or one or more answers associated with the question, willbe analyzed to determine one or more topics with which the question isassociated.

Next, at method operation 62, the question-and-answer service identifiesan answer to the question. For example, the question-and-answer servicemay query a database table to select one or more answers to thequestion, where each answer was previously posted to thequestion-and-answer service by a user of the question-and-answerservice. At method operation 64, the question-and-answer service selectsa topic-specific biographical statement to be presented on the questionpage next to or near the name of the user who provided the answer to thequestion. Finally, at method operation 66, the question page ispresented or served to the requesting client device, such that thequestion page includes the text of the question, at least one answer tothe question, the name of the user who provided the answer to thequestion, and the selected topic-specific biographical statement of theuser who provided the answer.

With some embodiments, selecting a topic-specific biographical statementof a user to be displayed with an answer to a question is a simplematter of identifying a biographical statement that has been explicitlyassigned to a particular topic, such that the information is stored in adatabase in some manner that associates the biographical statement withone or more topics. However, with some embodiments, a user'sbiographical information may not be explicitly assigned to topics. Assuch, a user's biographical information and any available associatedmeta-data may be analyzed by the question-and-answer service to identifyportions of the user's biographical information that are related to thetopic with which the question is associated. This may occur inreal-time, as a page request is being processed, or the analysis mayoccur prior to processing a page request.

In addition to displaying topic-specific biographical information abouta user when showing an answer provided by the user, thequestion-and-answer service may display topic-specific biographicalinformation about users in a number of other contexts as well. Forinstance, FIG. 5 illustrates the method operations for a method ofdisplaying topic-specific biographical information of a user whendisplaying information about a question that a user is following. Forinstance, the method begins at method operation 80 when thequestion-and-answer service selects information for presentation via auser interface of the question-and-answer service, such that theinformation identifies a particular user who is following a particularquestion that has either been explicitly assigned to a topic, or isotherwise determined to be associated with a topic. For example, on aquestion page, the photographs and/or names of users who are followingthe question may be presented.

Next, at method operation 82, the question-and-answer service selectstopic-specific biographical information of a user who is following thequestion. The topic-specific biographical information is identifiedand/or selected for its relevance to, or relationship with, at least onetopic to which the question being followed is assigned, or with whichthe question being followed is associated. For instance, with someembodiments, a user may explicitly assign a question to a topic. Inother embodiments, the question-and-answer service may analyze thequestion and determine a topic with which the question is associated.Finally, at method operation 84, the question-and-answer servicepresents a user interface (e.g., a web page) showing the question thatis being followed by a user, the information identifying the user thatis following the question, and the selected biographical informationabout the user who is following the question. For example, if a user isfollowing a question assigned to or associated with the topic, “IceHockey”, a portion of the user's biographical information relating tohis or her experience with the topic, “Ice Hockey” will be selected forpresentation next to or near the information that indicates the user isfollowing the question about ice hockey. This allows other users toquickly assess the user's biographical information and make adetermination about whether the user whose biographical information isdisplayed might be worth following.

In yet another example, FIG. 6 illustrates the method operationsinvolved in a method of displaying topic-specific biographicalinformation of a user when displaying information about a topic that theuser is following. The method begins at method operation 86 when thequestion-and-answer service selects information for presentation via auser interface of the question-and-answer service, such that theinformation identifies a particular user who is following a topic. Forexample, on a topic page, the photographs and/or names of users who arefollowing the topic may be selected for presentation.

Next, at method operation 88, the question-and-answer service selectstopic-specific biographical information of the user who is following thetopic. The topic-specific biographical information is selected for itsrelevance to the topic that the user is following. In some embodiments,the question-and-answer service may query an external data source inreal-time for topic-specific biographical information of a user.Finally, at method operation 90, the question-and-answer servicepresents a user interface (e.g., a web page) showing the topic that isbeing followed by the user, the information identifying the user that isfollowing the topic, and the biographical information about the user whois following the topic.

In many instances, a particular content item (e.g., a question) may beassigned to, or associated with, more than one topic. Accordingly,various algorithms and factors may be utilized in determining thespecific biographical statement of a user that is displayed for theuser, when the biographical statement is being presented in connectionwith a content item that has been assigned to, or is associated with,multiple topics. For example, when a content item, such as a question,has been assigned to several topics, selecting a biographical statementfor a user to be presented may involve analyzing the overall amount ofuser activity associated with the respective topics, and choosing thebiographical statement that is associated with the topic that has themost user activity, or the most recent user activity. Alternatively,with some embodiments, preference may be given to a topic that has theleast number of followers, as compared with other topics assigned to, orassociated with, the question. For instance, consider an example forwhich a particular question is assigned to, or associated with, thetopics, “Sports” and “WNBA Basketball.” In this example, the number offollowers for the topic “Sports” is likely to be greater than the numberof followers for the topic, “WNBA Basketball.” Therefore, by selectingthe topic with the fewest number of followers, the topic that mostclosely relates to the question is selected—in this example, “WNBABasketball.” Of course, with some embodiments, the algorithm forselecting a biographical statement of a user to be displayed with aquestion assigned to, or associated with, more than one topic, mayinvolve a combination of weighted factors.

With some embodiments, topics may be organized in a hierarchicalstructure, such that topics have one or more levels of sub-topics.Accordingly, when selecting biographical information of a user to bepresented, the biographical statement may be selected because it isassigned to, or associated with, a sub-topic of a topic to which aparticular content item is assigned. For example, if a question has beenassigned to the topics, “Sports”, “NBA Basketball” and “NBA BasketballPlayers,” assuming the topic, “NBA Basketball Player” is the lowestlevel sub-topic, any biographical information of a user assigned to thislower-level sub-topic would take preference over biographicalinformation assigned to one of the higher level topics.

With some embodiments of the invention, there are a variety of ways thata topic-specific biographical statement might be added to a user'sprofile. For instance, from a user's personal profile page, a user mayinvoke a topic-specific biographical information editor to add, deleteand edit biographical statements associated with any one or more of thetopics that the user is following. On a topic page for a particulartopic, a user can enter a topic-specific biographical statement for thetopic, regardless of whether the user is following the topic. With someembodiments, a user can add a topic-specific biographical statement foranother user at that user's profile page, or on other pages. With someembodiments, a user may specify a particular biographical statement fordisplay on a per-question basis, or, for display with the user's name insome other particular context. As described in connection with the flowdiagram of FIG. 7 , with some embodiments, a user can add atopic-specific biographical statement for one or more topics assigned toa question when the user is providing an answer to the question.

For example, referring now to FIG. 7 , at method operation 92 aquestion-and-answer service presents a question page with a questionthat has been posted by another user, such that the question has beenassigned to one or more topics. In addition, at method operation 94, thequestion-and-answer service presents a user interface element, such as atext input box, where a user can provide an answer to the question.Finally, at method operation 96, the question-and-answer servicepresents another user interface element, such as a button or link, that,when selected, invokes a topic-specific biographical statement editor,allowing the user to enter a biographical statement for any one or moreof the topics to which the question on the question page relates.

FIG. 8 is a user interface diagram illustrating an example of a userinterface for use with a question-and-answer application consistent withan embodiment of the invention. The example user interface shown in FIG.8 is provided to convey an understanding of the inventive conceptsdescribed herein, and a particular context in which the inventivesubject matter might be implemented. It will be readily appreciated byskilled artisans that the user interfaCes illustrated herein areexamples and that user interfaces differing from those illustratedherein may be applicable to the inventive concepts described herein.

As illustrated in FIG. 8 , a header or banner section 100 is shown toinclude a text input box 102 where a user can enter a question, oralternatively, enter one or more keywords to be used in a search for aquestion, topic, user, or other item of content. Under the headersection 100 is a portion of the user interface showing a question 104,and several topics 106 to which the question is currently assigned. Forinstance, in this example, the question is: “What are the most popularrides at Disneyland?” The topics 106 to which the question has beenassigned include: “Amusement Parks”, “Disneyland” and “Thrill Rides.”Next to the topics is an “ADD TOPIC” link or button 108 enabling a userto add a new topic to be associated with the question 104. In addition,a separate button or link 110, shown in FIG. 7 with text “ADD QUESTIONDETAILS” provides the user with the ability to enter additional detailsabout the question. Separate buttons or links exist for other userfunctionality, such as adding comments about the question, adding afollow-up question and flagging the question, for example, as beinginappropriate.

In this example user interface, beneath the question 104 are two answers112 and 114 provided by two different users. Associated with each answeris a name of the user who posted the answer, along with a brieftopic-specific biographical statement about each user who provided ananswer. For example, the first answer 112 was posted by the user, JohnSmith, who, according to the topic-specific biographical statement 113,was a “Former Disneyland Staff Member.” The second answer 114 was postedby Kate Johansen who, according to her topic-specific biographicalstatement, is a “thrill ride seeker and parent of five.” Beneath eachrespective answer are buttons or links that enable a user to add acomment about an answer, or indicate that an answer was helpful or nothelpful. In addition, to the left of each answer are two arrows for usein voting. For example, the arrow buttons (up and down) for the answerposted by John Smith are shown with reference number 116. The votes forand against an answer may be used in an algorithm that determines theorder in which answers to a particular question are presented.

At the bottom of the example user interface in FIG. 8 , there is a textinput box 118 providing a user with the ability to submit a new answerto the question 104. For example, a user can type an answer in the textinput box 118 and then hit the “SUBMIT ANSWER” button 120 to post theanswer to the question-and-answer service. To make an answer anonymous,such that the posting user's name will not be displayed next to theanswer, an anonymous button or link (e.g., labeled as “make anonymous”in FIG. 8 ) is provided. A button or link labeled, “ADD BIO” withreference number 122 allows the user to invoke the topic-specificbiographical statement editor, to add, delete or edit a biographicalstatement assigned to any one or more of the topics to which thequestion is assigned. For example, by selecting the “ADD BIO” link 122,a user will be presented with an additional user interface for atopic-specific biographical statement editor, such as the window ordialogue box presented in FIG. 9 with reference number 126. As shown inFIG. 9 , the user interface of the topic-specific biographical statementeditor shows the topics to which the question is assigned—in thisexample, “AMUSEMENT PARKS”, “DISNEYLAND” and “THRILL RIDES”—and, allowsthe user to add, delete, or edit a biographical statement for any one ormore of the topics.

FIG. 10 is a user interface diagram illustrating an example user profilepage, consistent with some embodiments of the invention. With someembodiments of the invention, a user may be able to either provide atopic-specific biographical statement for another user, oralternatively, provide a suggested topic-specific biographical statementfor another user. As shown in FIG. 10 , by selecting the link or buttonlabeled, “Suggest Topic-Specific Bio for Fred,” with reference 130, auser can then add a biographical statement to be associated with arelevant topic. For example, with some embodiments, when a first userhas a relationship with another user, such that the relationshipsatisfies some system-defined relationship requirement, the first usermay be able to add a topic-specific biographical statement to anotheruser's profile. This may be allowed, for example, only when the twousers are following one another, or have established a connection, asdefined by the question-and-answer service, or some external social orbusiness network service. When the first user adds a topic-specificbiographical statement for the second user, the second user will receivea message or notification indicating that the biographical statement hasbeen added to his or her profile. With some embodiments, a user may onlybe able to suggest a biographical statement. Accordingly, after thefirst user suggests a topic-specific biographical statement for thesecond user, the second user will be notified, and will be prompted toaccept, reject or edit, the suggested topic-specific biographicalstatement.

The example user interface shown in FIG. 10 is a user profile page thatis being presented to a user other than the user showcased in theprofile page. For instance, the profile page is for a user by the nameof Fred Johnson. However, the profile page has been generated to bepresented to a user other than Fred Johnson. With some embodiments, whena user is viewing his or her own profile page, a very similar userinterface to that shown in FIG. 10 will be presented, allowing the userto add, delete or edit his or her own topic-specific biographicalstatements, for any topics that the user is following, and in somecases, even for topics that the user is not following.

FIG. 11 illustrates a user interface for an example of a topic page, viawhich a user can add a topic-specific biographical statement concerningthe topic of the topic page, consistent with some embodiments of theinvention. As illustrated in FIG. 11 , the topic page for the topic,“Preventive Medicine” includes a link or button labeled, “Describe yourPreventive Medicine Experience,” with reference number 132. By selectingthis link, a user can add a topic-specific biographical statement thatwill be presented next to or near another content item when the contextof the user interface involves some aspect of the topic, “PreventiveMedicine.” A user may be allowed to add a topic-specific biographicalstatement for a topic, even when the user is not following the topic.

The various operations of example methods described herein may beperformed, at least partially, by one or more processors that aretemporarily configured (e.g., by software) or permanently configured toperform the relevant operations. Whether temporarily or permanentlyconfigured, such processors may constitute processor-implemented modulesthat operate to perform one or more operations or functions. The modulesor logical components referred to herein may, in some exampleembodiments, comprise processor-implemented modules or logic.

Similarly, the methods described herein may be at least partiallyprocessor-implemented. For example, at least some of the operations of amethod may be performed by one or more processors orprocessor-implemented modules. The performance of certain of theoperations may be distributed among the one or more processors, not onlyresiding within a single machine, but deployed across a number ofmachines. In some example embodiments, the processor or processors maybe located in a single location (e.g., within a home environment, anoffice environment or as a server farm), while in other embodiments theprocessors may be distributed across a number of locations.

The one or more processors may also operate to support performance ofthe relevant operations in a “cloud computing” environment or as a“software as a service” (SaaS). For example, at least some of theoperations may be performed by a group of computers (as examples ofmachines including processors), these operations being accessible via anetwork (e.g., the Internet) and via one or more appropriate interfaces(e.g., Application Program Interfaces (APIs).)

FIG. 12 is a block diagram of a machine in the form of a computer withinwhich a set of instructions, for causing the machine to perform any oneor more of the methodologies discussed herein, may be executed. Inalternative embodiments, the machine operates as a standalone device ormay be connected (e.g., networked) to other machines. In a networkeddeployment, the machine may operate in the capacity of a server or aclient machine in server-client network environments, or as a peermachine in peer-to-peer (or distributed) network environments. Themachine may be a personal computer (PC), a tablet PC, a set-top box(STB), a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), a mobile telephone, a webappliance, a network router, switch or bridge, or any machine capable ofexecuting instructions (sequential or otherwise) that specify actions tobe taken by that machine. Further, while only a single machine isillustrated, the term “machine” shall also be taken to include anycollection of machines that individually or jointly execute a set (ormultiple sets) of instructions to perform any one or more of themethodologies discussed herein.

The example computer system 1500 includes a processor 1502 (e.g., acentral processing unit (CPU), a graphics processing unit (GPU) orboth), a main memory 1501 and a static memory 1506, which communicatewith each other via a bus 1508. The computer system 1500 may furtherinclude a display unit 1510, an alphanumeric input device 1517 (e.g., akeyboard), and a user interface (UI) navigation device 1511 (e.g., amouse). In one embodiment, the display, input device and cursor controldevice are a touch screen display. The computer system 1500 mayadditionally include a storage device (e.g., drive unit 1516), a signalgeneration device 1518 (e.g., a speaker), a network interface device1520, and one or more sensors 1521, such as a global positioning systemsensor, compass, accelerometer, or other sensor.

The drive unit 1516 includes a machine-readable medium 1522 on which isstored one or more sets of instructions and data structures (e.g.,software 1523) embodying or utilized by any one or more of themethodologies or functions described herein. The software 1523 may alsoreside, completely or at least partially, within the main memory 1501and/or within the processor 1502 during execution thereof by thecomputer system 1500, the main memory 1501 and the processor 1502 alsoconstituting machine-readable media.

While the machine-readable medium 1522 is illustrated in an exampleembodiment to be a single medium, the term “machine-readable medium” mayinclude a single medium or multiple media (e.g., a centralized ordistributed database, and/or associated caches and servers) that storethe one or more instructions. The term “machine-readable medium” shallalso be taken to include any tangible medium that is capable of storing,encoding or carrying instructions for execution by the machine and thatcause the machine to perform any one or more of the methodologies of thepresent invention, or that is capable of storing, encoding or carryingdata structures utilized by or associated with such instructions. Theterm “machine-readable medium” shall accordingly be taken to include,but not be limited to, solid-state memories, and optical and magneticmedia. Specific examples of machine-readable media include non-volatilememory, including by way of example semiconductor memory devices, e.g.,EPROM, EEPROM, and flash memory devices; magnetic disks such as internalhard disks and removable disks; magneto-optical disks; and CD-ROM andDVD-ROM disks.

The software 1523 may further be transmitted or received over acommunications network 1526 using a transmission medium via the networkinterface device 1520 utilizing any one of a number of well-knowntransfer protocols (e.g., HTTP). Examples of communication networksinclude a local area network (“LAN”), a wide area network (“WAN”), theInternet, mobile telephone networks, Plain Old Telephone (POTS)networks, and wireless data networks (e.g., Wi-Fi® and WiMax® networks).The term “transmission medium” shall be taken to include any intangiblemedium that is capable of storing, encoding or carrying instructions forexecution by the machine, and includes digital or analog communicationssignals or other intangible medium to facilitate communication of suchsoftware.

Although an embodiment has been described with reference to specificexample embodiments, it will be evident that various modifications andchanges may be made to these embodiments without departing from thebroader spirit and scope of the invention. Accordingly, thespecification and drawings are to be regarded in an illustrative ratherthan a restrictive sense. The accompanying drawings that form a parthereof, show by way of illustration, and not of limitation, specificembodiments in which the subject matter may be practiced. Theembodiments illustrated are described in sufficient detail to enablethose skilled in the art to practice the teachings disclosed herein.Other embodiments may be utilized and derived therefrom, such thatstructural and logical substitutions and changes may be made withoutdeparting from the scope of this disclosure. This Detailed Description,therefore, is not to be taken in a limiting sense, and the scope ofvarious embodiments is defined only by the appended claims, along withthe full range of equivalents to which such claims are entitled.

What is claimed is:
 1. A computer-implemented method comprising: storinguser information including biographical statements in a databaseconfigured to link the biographical statements with topic information;receiving input corresponding to a request to associate a user with aquestion; executing a biographical statement algorithm configured toidentify at least one topic that corresponds to the question, thebiographical statement algorithm being applied to a hierarchicalstructure corresponding to one or more topics; selecting a particularbiographical statement associated with user information corresponding tothe user based on a correspondence between the particular biographicalstatement and the at least one topic, wherein the particularbiographical statement is selected from a variety of availablebiographical information for the user; and displaying a question pagethat includes the question, a name of the user, and the particularbiographical statement.
 2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1,further comprising: analyzing a text of the question; identifying, usinga result of analyzing the text, one or more words in the text; anddetermining the one or more topics associated with the question from theone or more words.
 3. The computer-implemented method of claim 2,further comprising: retrieving additional biographical informationidentified using data associated with one or more user profiles, whereinthe particular biographical statement is further determined using theadditional biographical information.
 4. The computer-implemented methodof claim 1, wherein the user information includes a location associatedwith a user.
 5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein theparticular biographical statement is associated with a sub-topic of theat least one topic.
 6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1,wherein selecting a particular biographical statement associated withuser information corresponding to the user is further based on useractivity associated with the at least one topic.
 7. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the biographicalstatements are received from another user.
 8. A non-transitorycomputer-readable storage medium including instructions that, whenexecuted by one or more processors of a server hosting aquestion-and-answer service, cause the one or more processors to performoperations including: computer-implemented method comprising: storinguser information including biographical statements in a databaseconfigured to link the biographical statements with topic information;receiving input corresponding to a request to associate a user with aquestion; executing a biographical statement algorithm configured toidentify at least one topic that corresponds to the question, thebiographical statement algorithm being applied to a hierarchicalstructure corresponding to one or more topics; selecting a particularbiographical statement associated with user information corresponding tothe user based on a correspondence between the particular biographicalstatement and the at least one topic, wherein the particularbiographical statement is selected from a variety of availablebiographical information for the user; and displaying a question pagethat includes the question, a name of the user, and the particularbiographical statement.
 9. The non-transitory computer-readable storagemedium of claim 8, further comprising: analyzing a text of the question;identifying, using a result of analyzing the text, one or more words inthe text; and determining the one or more topics associated with thequestion from the one or more words.
 10. The non-transitorycomputer-readable storage medium of claim 8, further comprising:retrieving additional biographical information identified using dataassociated with one or more user profiles, wherein the particularbiographical statement is further determined using the additionalbiographical information.
 11. The non-transitory computer-readablestorage medium of claim 8, wherein the user information includes alocation associated with a user.
 12. The non-transitorycomputer-readable storage medium of claim 8, wherein the particularbiographical statement is associated with a sub-topic of the at leastone topic.
 13. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium ofclaim 8, wherein selecting a particular biographical statementassociated with user information corresponding to the user is furtherbased on user activity associated with the at least one topic.
 14. Thenon-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 8, wherein thebiographical statements are received from another user.
 15. A systemcomprising: one or more processors; and a non-transitorycomputer-readable storage medium including instructions that, whenexecuted by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processorsto perform operations including: storing user information includingbiographical statements in a database configured to link thebiographical statements with topic information; receiving inputcorresponding to a request to associate a user with a question;executing a biographical statement algorithm configured to identify atleast one topic that corresponds to the question, the biographicalstatement algorithm being applied to a hierarchical structurecorresponding to one or more topics; selecting a particular biographicalstatement associated with user information corresponding to the userbased on a correspondence between the particular biographical statementand the at least one topic, wherein the particular biographicalstatement is selected from a variety of available biographicalinformation for the user; and displaying a question page that includesthe question, a name of the user, and the particular biographicalstatement.
 16. The system of claim 15, further comprising: analyzing atext of the question; identifying, using a result of analyzing the text,one or more words in the text; and determining the one or more topicsassociated with the question from the one or more words.
 17. The systemof claim 15, further comprising: retrieving additional biographicalinformation identified using data associated with one or more userprofiles, wherein the particular biographical statement is furtherdetermined using the additional biographical information.
 18. The systemof claim 15, wherein the user information includes a location associatedwith a user.
 19. The system of claim 15, wherein the particularbiographical statement is associated with a sub-topic of the at leastone topic.
 20. The system of claim 15, wherein selecting a particularbiographical statement associated with user information corresponding tothe user is further based on user activity associated with the at leastone topic.
 21. The system of claim 15, wherein the biographicalstatements are received from another user.